"We must be united," said Julio Avila, a janitor active with the United Service Workers West union. The Anaheim resident campaigned for Obama in Nevada last year. He traveled to Washington, D.C., in support of immigration reform. And now, he's ready again.

Union leaders like Julio Perez want that enthusiasm as they ask supporters to contact congressional leaders, talk up reform among co-workers, neighbors and fellow church members.

Immigration reform is the top campaign priority for the national AFL-CIO, said Perez, the director of the Orange County Labor Federation.

This week, Obama and a group of Senate leaders from both parties presented proposals that would help undocumented residents attain citizenship, crack down on businesses that employ people illegally and improve security on the nation's borders. While overhauling the nation's immigration laws has gained steam, details have yet to be ironed out.

Orange County Republican leaders on Monday seemed open to the Senate's bipartisan plan for immigration reform even though it included creating a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers. But Tuesday, after hearing the president's plan, which includes a more direct pathway to citizenship, local Republicans said it did not focus enough on border security and they were more cautious.

"I agree with the Senate's version," said David Harlow, a leader with the 405-605 Tea Party in North Orange County. "One of the things they said, that the president didn't emphasize, is that they need to secure the border before anything can go further," Harlow said. "That's critical."

"Border enforcement has to be number one," said Stan Nelson of the Orange County-based California Coalition for Immigration Reform, which opposes illegal immigration.

Nelson said he opposes opening a pathway to people who broke the law by staying in this country illegally. "How is that fair to anyone?" Nelson said. "Immigration law isn't broken. Our enforcement is broken," Nelson said.

Meanwhile, Jon Fleischman, former executive director of the California Republican Party, said first, he wants to see discussion about entitlement reform. "It's not responsible to talk about immigration reform without talking about what's enticing them to come here," he said.

In 2008, there were an estimated 289,000 unauthorized immigrants in Orange County, or about 9.6 percent of the population, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank.

Vianey Rojas is one of them. The Orange resident has been living here for 12 years. She left behind her three children in Mexico in hopes that someday she can bring them here and create a better life for them.

"It's difficult, but not impossible," Rojas said in Spanish.

In Silvia Juarez's family, she is the only one who is undocumented. She lives with three sons. One is in college. One is in high school. One is 10 years old.

"I've talked to them that if something were to happen one day and I'm taken away, they have to stick together, love each other. They don't like to discuss it," she said.

Her youngest, Angel, is next to her. He doesn't understand what she's saying in Spanish. But when he's asked in English whether he ever considers that his mom could one day be deported, he softly responds "sometimes," breaks into tears and hides behind his mother.

Frank Bean, director of UC Irvine's Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy, said there's deeper and more widespread support for immigration reform than in the past, but the various components of a proposal are bound to hit a snag with one group or another.

"I think it will get worked out in due course," Bean said, "but it won't be a walk in the sun."